Michael Phelps: Eight-Gold-Medal Man (with a Little Help from His Friends)

When American swimmer Michael Phelps, age 23, won his eighth gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing—breaking the record for most golds garnered at a single Games, set by another U.S. swimmer, Mark Spitz, at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich—the feat was hailed as one of the greatest individual achievements in sports history, and Phelps was proclaimed by many the greatest Olympian of all time. Yet had it not been for extraordinary...